The next day—a warm, sunny day in Zion—Sandra and Vulpes prepared for their leave.
Vulpes dressed in his suit, hat, and displacer glove, still feeling somewhat dazed, but fairly well recovered compared to the day before. He and Sandra strolled out of the caves, stopping by the water's edge and giving Joshua their final goodbyes before their departure.
"I truly hope you stay the course you're on," Joshua told Vulpes intensely. "The peace obtained at the end is well worth it."
Vulpes managed a nod, thinking of nothing to say in response.
"And you," Joshua added, facing Sandra and releasing a solemn sigh. "I just hope you stay on a course you won't lose yourself on. Do not seek out Courier Six again unless all your other options fall through."
"That's the plan," Sandra told him, waving him off. "Seeya, Joshua."
"Goodbye."
At that—Sandra and Vulpes strolled off, marching down the water's edge and following the river far away from the camp.
The two walked in silence for a long while, and they eventually arrived alongside the main body of the river, wading across the shallow waters and approaching the vast clearing on the other side, where Sandra's animal resided. The horse was in the general area, having wandered up and down the river a few times, and it appeared to be eating a mouthful of long dry grass that it had pulled from behind a nearby boulder.
Sandra sauntered over to the horse and strapped her bag onto its saddle, then turned to Vulpes, laughing at the bizarre look on his face. He was staring at the animal as if it was an alien species.
"What in God's name is that?" Vulpes uttered, narrowing his eyes at it in befuddlement.
"No idea," Sandra smirked, patting the horse's side. "I call it Long-Face."
"Is it a mutant?"
"Iunno, maybe. I've seen pictures of it on the mountains around the Dead Horses campsites, though. I forgot to ask them about it…"
"Horses," Vulpes mumbled. "This must be the animal they're named after. It's a horse."
Sandra blinked, turning to the horse and surveying it. "Huh. Well—I'm still gonna call it Long-Face. Least until I take it back to its home."
"Back to its…" Vulpes paused, narrowing his eyes at her. "Where did it come from?"
"North," Sandra replied. "Up in Frosthill."
Vulpes fell silent, standing by the water's edge and saying nothing, merely staring at her with an oddly somber look about him.
Sandra stared, studying him and feeling that something was amiss—though, not anything particularly bad. No, it was simply unusual—almost as if she could feel that some barrier had been removed, as if the many layers of violence and discipline on Vulpes Inculta had suddenly faded away overnight.
In fact—if she wasn't imagining it, he almost looked like an ordinary person right now, merely staring at her with hesitant concern.
"What?" she uttered. "What's wrong…?"
Vulpes remained quiet for a second, glimpsing to the side, then back at her.
"I thought we were going back home," he muttered.
Sandra gave him an odd look. "I can't yet. Randall's waiting for me in Frosthill—and now Niner and Arcade are there, too. I'm gonna do the job up there. I still plan to."
"Why?" Vulpes breathed, stepping forward and eyeing her intently. "Haven't you done enough by now?"
"No," Sandra stated. "Almost—but no. The door's wide open for Marko to start taking over all the bad games in the Mojave if he wants to, and he's the last threat left. He's the last one before the endgame. That box has gotta be checked off before we can be done."
The two fell silent again, Vulpes staring into the water while Sandra's eyes remained on him.
"I thought you'd want to," Sandra said honestly, giving him another look of intrigue. "I really thought you'd like the idea of us… coming together… and doing this again."
Vulpes gazed into the shimmering waters profoundly for a moment. Then, his gaze shifted back to hers, his eyes seeming deeper in their stark cerulean than they ever had.
"I've never been that close to dying before," he murmured.
Sandra swallowed, observing him and feeling a pinch of empathy.
Honestly, for all the violent close calls that Vulpes had experienced—she knew for certain he was right. This latest encounter, with starvation and crucifixion, was the most drastic endeavor he'd ever endured—in fact, she could see and practically feel it all now, as it seemed to have left some lasting impression on him, as if it had somehow changed him in ways neither of them expected or understood.
And—she only just realized it now—Vulpes must've been tailing her and searching for her for quite a long time before finally managing to track her up to Utah. He probably had a plan in mind, a plan of taking her home and finally returning to their old lives, a plan that was not coming to fruition here and now.
Of course he didn't want to chase demons any longer.
And—quite honestly—neither did she.
It was just something that had to be done.
"I wanna go home, too," Sandra told him sincerely. "But I have to finish this one last thing… okay? Just this. Just this job in Frosthill… then we all go home."
Vulpes gazed into her, expression troubled, yet softer than before. He released a deep cloud of breath, seeming to read every inch of her visage through his solemn, reflective stare.
"I think you wanted to change me," he mumbled breathlessly. "And I think… you have."
Sandra returned his stare, saying nothing.
"Because I… don't," Vulpes said in a wispy exhalation, sounding somewhat surprised by himself. "I… don't… want this anymore."
Sandra continued to stare, still speechless, feeling another gentle pain in her chest.
"I'd fight any day. I'd fight for us until the end," Vulpes told her. "But living your life always looking for that fight… it's just… exhausting."
"I know," Sandra understood. "Y'know, this… none of this… is actually what I want to do. It's just what I have to. Hell, I can think of fifty other people who'd be better at this than me… but just… they just… won't. Nobody else is gonna do it. But… it has to get done. So… y'know… here I am."
"We all would," Vulpes reminded her. "If you would've told us, or let us help you—we all would have. Not just you."
"Yeah… yeah, you would. But that's just not fair," Sandra replied with a pained, breathless laugh. "The only other people willing to take this on are the ones I wanna keep safe from it. That's just not fair of God to do."
"No worthwhile conquests have ever been established on grounds that were fair," Vulpes stated.
Sandra flashed a half-smile. "Now that sounds more like you…"
"I just—I want the same thing," Vulpes told her. "I want the same thing you do. I want them all gone so it can all be over."
Sandra slowly nodded, thinking of Ulysses again and revealing another smirk. "Well… I have a way of doing that. We take care of Frosthill, and I got the rest covered from there."
She turned, adjusting the saddle and preparing to mount it, Vulpes examining her curiously now.
"Joshua Graham spoke of Courier Six," Vulpes recalled. "But he spoke as if it was someone other than you."
Sandra tightened the straps on the horse, staring down and acting as if she didn't hear him.
"And I can only think of one other Courier Six," Vulpes added, squinting at her skeptically. "A Legion defector like me… who has an entire missile silo at his disposal now."
Sandra placed a hand on the horse, facing him again and looking suddenly expressionless.
Vulpes read her, noting every detail of her and seeming to draw the right conclusion.
"You know a genocide of the Legion wouldn't only kill the Legion," he informed, his tone darkening. "It will kill anyone even remotely near the Legion as well—along with all the captives they have. Entire droves of innocent people will perish alongside them if you choose to take that path."
"I'm surprised you care," Sandra uttered.
"So am I," Vulpes admitted.
The two merely stared at one another for a moment.
"Is that really what you want to do?" he asked her.
Sandra sighed heavily.
"No," she mumbled. "But… like I said… none of this is what I wanna do. I just have to."
They both hesitated again.
Sandra then faced him, trying to smile and sauntering over to him.
"Frosthill is nice," she assured. "It's really chill and peaceful. And trust me… I took out a lot of hard bounties by myself. If I can do that, then… all four of us back together can take out a few more bounties real easy. It's not gonna be as crazy and hellish as you think. It's almost like a vacation up there."
Vulpes stared at her.
Sandra maintained her smile. "Just Frosthill… then we all go back home for good."
Vulpes paused, biting his lip for a moment, then making a nod. "I go where you go."
Sandra's smile grew, and she started toward the horse again—then Vulpes marched forward and grabbed her, snapping a hand around her wrist and halting her mid-step.
Sandra stopped, staring at him expectantly.
Vulpes glared at the ground, his grasp on her tightening, seeming to be very deep in thought.
Then, his gaze ventured up to hers, and their eyes of blue met yet again.
"I can't think why… you always seem to see something worth… saving… in me," he murmured with some difficulty. "But I…"
He paused several times, trying to find the words and losing them entirely—but, Sandra watched, a coy smirk emerging as she studied him closely, knowing for certain what he thought and felt now.
"You know what's crazy," she said, facing him fully and placing her hand over his, giving it a single pat. "The day I first met you… I never would've imagined you acting grateful about anything. You've come a hell of a long way since then."
Vulpes was silent, returning her stare with a deep, quizzical look about him.
"You saved me even back then," he uttered moments later. "Long before I was ever… the way I am now…"
"I always knew you could change. I've seen it before," Sandra said knowingly. "Not giving you a chance would've been a waste of a powerful person. You'd be surprised how powerful it is to show some compassion to someone who's never seen it before."
Vulpes squinted at her. "And you knew that back then? While you were lost and tottering on the brink of insanity?"
Sandra scoffed out a laugh, clutching his hand tighter.
"I knew that before I ever left home," she told him definitively.
Vulpes stared at her interestingly.
"Charon taught me," Sandra said solemnly. "And, y'know… I always wondered why. I always wondered why God put me in that situation with him, where I could show him some compassion… and finally give him someone who gives a damn about him… just to have him get ripped away. I always wondered why it had to be that way. But now… I don't know… now…"
Her thumb gingerly stroked along his hand.
"Now I get it," Sandra knew. "He was the happiest he'd ever been at the end of his life… and that whole thing taught me everything I needed to know… before I'd go west, and meet you."
She gently raised his hand from her wrist, intertwining her fingers with his.
"I had to learn all that with him… so I could do it all with you," Sandra told him genuinely. "If not for Charon, I probably wouldn't see you the way I do. Besides… I'm not any more a saint than you are. I've done a lot of messed-up things just like you have. If I hated you for that, then I'd have to hate me, too. But… I don't see it that way. I just see us both as being strong and screwed-up people… and we're capable of being better than we ever were before. And… well… we are. We are better now."
Vulpes gazed into her. "Are we…?"
Sandra tilted her head, giving him a look. "Foxxy… you've wiped out entire droves of people before. You excelled at it back in the day. But right here, right now, you just stood here, and looked me in the eye, and tried to talk me out of doing that exact same thing… because you apparently give a damn about all the innocent people it would kill. Have you ever cared about that before?"
Vulpes glimpsed down, pondering on this and remaining silent.
"You're like a regular human being now," Sandra said with a laugh, swinging his hand to and fro. "Charon got there. Joshua got there. Now you're getting there… and I always knew you could. I don't know how, but I did. So… there you go."
"Oh… don't put any stock in my humanity yet," Vulpes replied, cracking a slight smile. "I've yet to deal with any of your little bounties up north."
Sandra snickered, patting his hand once more before releasing it. She then turned and prepared to mount the horse, waving for him to join her.
"You don't need to steer the creature," Vulpes remarked. "I can do that."
"No—I'm gonna drive the horse," Sandra snarked in response, leaping swiftly upright and draping her leg over the animal, sitting perfectly on its large saddle. "You still need to recover some more. Get up here and just rest for a while. We got a long ride ahead."
She reached down, taking his hand and pulling him upright.
Vulpes settled on the saddle just behind her, pressed against her as his arms curled warmly around her.
"Heeyah!" Sandra yelled—flicking the ropes and urging the horse to move.
Long-Face began a brisk stride over the terrain, and Sandra guided it for a long while—Vulpes lying softly and cozily against her back, resting his head, and feeling as if he could sleep here for all eternity.
The horse carried them out of Zion, trekking back north and escorting them to the place of their final endgame beyond the Mojave—where many long games and many grudges unresolved would finally come to a definite end.